The government will boost its assistance for Korean international adoptees.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare revealed during a policy coordination meeting on Friday measures it plans to carry out to help Korean adoptees trace their roots. The measures also aim to help adoptees establish their identity by expanding opportunities on experiencing Korean culture.

The ministry also decided during Friday’s meeting to request the U.S. State Department to confirm whether children adopted from South Korea by American families acquire U.S. citizenship and to grant citizenship to adoptees who have not received it. Such a call apparently comes after a Korean-American adoptee who was deported to South Korea robbed a bank in Seoul earlier in August. The man’s adoptive parents had never applied for the American citizenship.

The ministry also decided to seek ways to join the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption in a bid to protect the human rights of adoptees.

The government will boost its assistance for Korean international adoptees The Ministry of Health and Welfare revealed during a policy coordination meeting on Friday measures it plans to carry out to help Korean adoptees trace their roots